A wide variety of portable electronic devices are available for both private and business use and for providing various functionality and utility. It is common in such devices to include volatile memory that must be continually powered to retain its veracity. This, in turn, requires a continuous supply of power to the processor or memory, even when the device is not being used. This is not particularly problematic, as the existing batteries can reasonably efficiently provide a current of the magnitude required. Where the difficulties arise, however, is when the battery needs replacing.
In some devices, this problem has been addressed by utilising a secondary or back-up battery that provides the necessary power to the memory in the interval between the spent primary battery being removed and a fresh primary battery being inserted.
Batteries, however, are expensive and it can be difficult to financially justify the cost of two batteries when one is only used intermittently. This is increasingly so for the larger devices such a portable computers where weight, size and cost considerations are paramount. The result being that such computers do not rely upon a secondary battery and, instead, are shut down between battery swaps with any necessary data being stored on a permanent hard drive rather than in volatile memory.
The major disadvantage that arises from this is that the shutting down of a portable computer, the removal of the spent battery, the replacement with a new battery and the rebooting of the computer consumes considerable energy and takes time, in the order of minutes. The first further limits the effectiveness of the portable power sources while the second is a source of frustration to users.
The discussion within the specification of the prior art is for the purposes of providing an addressee with some context of the field of the invention and is not to be taken as an admission of the extent of the common general knowledge in that field.